OIL PAINTING : A Shepherdess With Her Flock

Dupre's most enduring and powerful image is that of a single, Herculean, female, positioned dramatically and elegantly in the foreground of the painting - A Shepherdess With Her Flock, La Faneuse [The Haymaker]. Dupre's finely modeled figures pay tribute to his academic training, as well as his study of the works of Breton and Bouguereau; while his freer handling of the background areas, at times done with a palette knife, shows the influence of the Impressionists.